A Salisbury man is behind bars, accused in the accidental shooting death of his cousin.

When officers arrived on scene, 23-year-old Roy Jacob Bryant was found suffering from a shotgun wound. He was taken to Rowan Regional Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries a short time later.

Investigators say Bryant and his 22-year-old cousin, Timothy Scott Glover, had been drinking liquor that night, and Glover had been in possession of a shotgun. Further investigation revealed Glover, who authorities say was intoxicated, was "carelessly" handling the shotgun when it discharged, firing a fatal blow into Bryant's body.

Authorities say Glover's shotgun was a 20 gauge, sawed-off shotgun. It's considered an illegal weapon and was seized.

Glover is charged with felony involuntary manslaughter and felony possession of a weapon of mass destruction.

The misdemeanor charge against a Radford boy who accidentally shot and killed his older sister in 2011 was dismissed Wednesday, almost three years after authorities took the rare step of charging a 10-year-old.

The boy was charged with reckless handling of a firearm in the Aug. 12, 2011, death of Jessie Nicole Kessinger, 14, who was shot in their home on Preston Street.

The boy, who was 10 at the time of the shooting, pleaded no contest to the charge, but in February 2012, Juvenile and Domestic Relations Judge Robert Viar chose not to convict the child, deferring disposition for two years and allowing the Department of Social Services to monitor the case.

Those close to the family have said that news reports about a manhunt for convicted felon Edward DeHart Jr. near the family’s home scared the boy, prompting him to search for the key to the gun cabinet. He then retrieved a gun in order to protect himself and his sister while they were at home alone.Rehak said at the time that if an adult had been the one to accidentally fire the gun, the charge would have been manslaughter. He said reckless handling was the least serious offense the boy could be charged with in the case.

Utah’s leading gun advocate, Clark Aposhian, resolved his criminal case Monday after battling misdemeanor charges for over a year.

With Monday’s resolution — where he pleaded no contest to a disorderly conduct infraction — Aposhian will now have access to his gun arsenal, which reportedly contains more than 300 firearms that were confiscated during the duration of the justice court proceedings.

Aposhian, 49, was originally charged in Holladay Justice Court with misdemeanor criminal trespass, criminal mischief, threat of violence and domestic violence in the presence of a child — stemming from a Memorial Day incident in which he was accused of driving a 2.5-ton military vehicle onto his ex-wife’s driveway and threatening to run over her new husband and his car.

As part of Monday’s resolution, he was immediately sentenced to pay a $320 fine, according to court records.

Aposhian’s attorney, Morgan Philpot, said Monday that his client feels "fully vindicated" and "grateful" that the domestic violence charges have been dismissed.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Earlier this week, there was another mass shooting, no surprise - in lax gun law state Florida, haven of ammosexuals.
This quote from seems to sum up the problem with allowing weapons with large capacity magazines and which can fire a great deal of ammunition very quickly, for the purpose of wounding or killing large numbers of people.
From the Miami Herald:

...two men had pulled up in a dark SUV around 2:15 a.m. Tuesday as more than a dozen people were hanging out, talking and drinking. The men climbed out lugging high-powered automatic weapons, and took aim.
...When the shooting stopped, more than five dozen shell casings littered the parking lot, sidewalk and street. Two men were killed and seven people were wounded in one of the worst mass shootings in Miami in decades.
But sources say the two men, carrying an AK-47 and an AR-15, were firing at an intended target who might not have even been in the crowd. The shooters had not been arrested or identified by Tuesday night. Police were tagging beer bottles and other paraphernalia around the crime scene hoping to find DNA matches or other evidence that might help identify the shooters.
“The motive at this point is still unknown. We’re still investigating,” said Miami police spokeswoman Frederica Burden.
The scene was so chaotic that when reports circulated that three men had been arrested in connection with the shooting, police immediately said it wasn’t true. The reality: Three men were detained after tossing a Sponge Bob Square Pants bag that contained weapons.

As noted in supporting a ban on large capacity weapons and assault-style weapons in Washington D.C., back in 2011, from the New York Times, quoting the findings of the presiding court:

This ruling underscores a principle set forth in the 2008 Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which held that the Second Amendment allows individuals to keep handguns at home for self-defense. The Supreme Court said in that case that the right is “not unlimited” and doesn’t protect guns “not typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes.” And it specifically suggested that jurisdictions could ban the possession of the military’s M-16 rifle because it is “dangerous and unusual.”

The District’s firearms law defines “assault weapon” to include rifles like the AR-15, which the Supreme Court once called “the civilian version of the military’s M-16 rifle.” The appeals court suggested that the only place where assault weapons, which are designed to spray bullets at a rapid rate, are necessary for self-defense is on a battlefield or the equivalent for police. Anywhere else their presence is an invitation to mayhem and puts police officers and all around at high risk.

It also concluded that “the evidence demonstrates a ban on assault weapons is likely to promote the Government’s interest in crime control in the densely populated urban area that is the District of Columbia.” The court reached the same conclusion about banning magazines with more than 10 rounds of ammunition. Those magazines increase the dangers of semiautomatic guns: they result in more shots fired, people wounded and wounds per person. The appeals court’s ruling is careful and convincing on this heated topic.

To date the SCOTUS has not in any way disagreed with this ruling that :

1. Specifically sets limits the kind of weapon guaranteed under the 2A; and

2. Restricts that right to the home, not on the street or in/at/on any other public or private place;

Shootings like this underline why we need stricter gun control laws and enforcement, and fewer and different guns in our population.

One man was taken to a hospital to have a bullet removed from his foot and another suffered a minor graze wound in two gun accidents over the weekend, police said.Both accidents happened Saturday evening. In Greenwood, a man accidentally shot his friend in the foot while looking at a handgun during a child’s birthday party. Near Acton, another man was grazed by a bullet fragment that ricocheted off a target at a professionalshooting range during a firearm training course.The accidental shootings occurred just weeks after multiple houses in a Greenwood subdivision were pierced by bullets being fired from a rural home.

Appleton police say a man has died from injuries suffered from an accidental gunshot.

The 911 call said that a 55-year-old man had been shot by an acquaintance that was looking over a handgun when it went off. Police say the victim, identified as Joseph M. Pastorelli Sr., was hit by a single round.

Police interviewed several people inside the home at the time. Investigators believe it happened while several guns were being cleaned after they had recently been fired at a shooting range.

Billie Jo George, 24, was subsequently arrested and charged with four counts of recklessly endangering another person, discharge of firearms, propulsion of missiles onto roadways and disorderly conduct. She was committed to the Berks County Jail on $75,000 bail.

Freak Out Nation reportsA new law that makes it easier for West Virginia residents to buy a handgun also makes it easier for some people who have recently committed a crime to buy a gun. The new law allows anyone who obtains a new concealed weapons permit to buy a gun without undergoing a federal background check.

A check is required to get the permit, so supporters of the change say a second check is redundant.

But permits are only good for five years, so that means if someone is convicted later of a crime which would typically bar a gun purchase, they can still buy one by showing the permit to the dealer.

The permit is supposed to be revoked if someone becomes ineligible to buy a gun, but there’s no effective mechanism to enforce that.

This is a big win for the NRA. The gun organization should be proud. This is what happens when you continue to saw away at gun regulations in states which already have lax gun laws.

That, “Gun control won’t stop criminals from getting guns’ talking point just went out the window.

It really does seem like the NRA actually wants criminals to have easy access to guns. But, I think what's really going on is something slightly different. What they want is the maximum convenience for lawful gun owners and if that means criminals can more easily get guns, so be it.

Gun rights fanatics are so focused on their own rights that they refuse to even look at the obvious downside of their self-serving policies. More people die and they're to blame.

Louisiana had the highest gun-related deaths per capita in the nation in 2011, a new study shows.

The study was conducted by the Violence Policy Center, a nonprofit group working to deter gun violence.

It analyzes data released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that say guns killed 865 Louisiana residents in 2011. That translates into 18.91 gun-related deaths for every 100,000 people in the state.

Mississippi, Alaska, Wyoming and Montana round out the top five states with the highest gun-related death rates.

According to the group, Louisiana's ranking is because of weak gun-ownership laws and a high rate of per-capita gun ownership. An estimated 45.6 percent of the state's residents own guns.

“Gun violence is preventable, and states can pass effective laws that will dramatically reduce gun death and injury,” Violence Policy Center Executive Director Josh Sugarmann said. “Our analysis shows that states with weak gun violence prevention laws and easy access to guns pay a severe price with gun death rates far above the national average.”

Here is a truth so fundamental that it should be self-evident: When legitimately constituted state authority stands down in the face of armed threats, the very foundation of the republic is in danger. And yet that is exactly what happened at Cliven Bundy’s Nevada ranch this spring: An alleged criminal defeated the cops, because the forces of lawlessness came at them with guns — then Bureau of Land Management officials further surrendered by removing the government markings from their vehicles to prevent violence against them.

What should be judged a watershed in American history instead became a story about one man’s racist rants. Even as two more Nevada lunatics, inspired by their stint at Cliven Bundy’s ranch, allegedly ambushed and mowed down two police officers and killed a bystander after crying, “This is the start of a revolution.” And now, an antigovernment conspiracy theorist named Douglas Cole recently shot at two police officers in Nevada County, California (though you may not have heard about that, because the New York Times hasn’t found the news yet fit to print).

Such actions are the logical conclusion of a movement that has been veritably sweeping the nation for years now. Early Tea Partiers began attending rallies with guns on their hips. “Open carry” advocates make a fetish of just this sort of brandishing of guns in public places, especially where they are most unwanted.

Of course, most of the people with the CCTV cameras are not the "State", but are civic minded citizens who have enrolled in the Philadelphia Police Department's SafeCam programme. In fact, that is pretty much how the "surveillance state" seems to be playing out.

Of course, CCTV is a lot more helpful than a gun for cutting down crime. For example, the high profile use of CCTV pictures with facial recognition software were used to prosecute rioters after the 2011 British riots.

The same case with the Boston Marathon Bombers.

While one camera might not get proper pictures, another camera might get an image that makes it easy to identify the culprit.

Even if a camera is not a deterrent, the fact that it provides evidence which can convict criminals will lead to a strong deterrent effect.

On the other hand, how many guns are stolen and end up in the hands of criminals?

A man who fatally shot his 14-year-old step-daughter in their home after mistaking her for burglar will not face criminal charges, according to the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office.

A Grand Jury determined that no criminal charges should be brought against Daniel Meade, a decorated Fort Carson soldier, in the death of Kiana O'Neil on Dec. 23.

According to a dispatch recording, Meade opened fire on the girl about 6 a.m. as she was crawling through a window of the family's home in the 4000 block of Ascendant Drive, off North Carefree Circle and Peterson Road.

The really amusing part of this is that these polls are usually hijacked by people who want to express their opinion, which given this was on a "pro-gun" site would make me think that the open carry crowd would have hijacked it.

But they didn't.

In fact, the opinion of most "pro-gun" people is that the open carry movement is funded by Bloomberg to make gun owners look bad.

But, as I like to point out, we don't NEED to pay you to make dickheads of yourselves--you do it of your own free will.

Anchorage police say a wife was injured Friday evening at an East Anchorage mobile home after her husband accidentally shot her. According to APD Sgt. Sean Case, officers were called at about 11:30 p.m. to the residence in the Mayflower Circle trailer park, at 1001 Boniface Pkwy. Several children were in the home at the time of the shooting. The wife was struck in the neck, but was conscious and breathing when she was taken to an area hospital late Friday. Case says it’s too early to determine whether any charges will be filed in the incident, with police continuing to investigate the matter early Saturday.

Why would it be "too early to determine if any charges will be filed?" They know who the negligent gun owner is, right?

As long as we give special treatment to civilian gun owners when they harm people with their negligence, we cannot expect improvement in the frequency of these incidents.

Police said a 6-year-old boy’s parents were arrested after lying about an accidental shooting in Muncie.

According to Lt Steve Cox with the Muncie Police Department, on Thursday night, officers were called to IU Ball Memorial Hospital on the report that a 6-year-old boy was shot.

The boy’s parents, Lamotta Roundtree, 34, and Elisha Wolfe, 35, told officers that their 15-year-old niece, who was babysitting their son, found a gun in the alley behind their house. They said the girl picked up the gun and it went off, shooting the boy in the groin.

Officers later determined that the 15-year-old girl found the gun inside of the home. Roundtree is a convicted felon who couldn’t have a gun in his home, according to Cox.

Police arrested Roundtree and Wolfe on Thursday night on the following charges:

I am probably wasting my time trying to talk sense to people who think they know more than other people.

Anyway:

First, not everyone has the same definition of the word "tyranny." Some
conservatives view Obamacare as tyrannical while many liberals view it
as not going far enough in terms of nationalized health care.
Furthermore, a law or tax viewed as despotic by some citizens might also
be regarded as a necessity by the government. In the late 1700s, some
Americans viewed the Founders in the same manner that many of us view
Bush or Obama. Whether it was anger of taxes in the Whiskey Rebellion,
or unfair treatment of veterans in Shay's Rebellion, armed Americans
have never been able to overthrow their government, even in the early
years of the country.

Simple fact: the Founders might have given citizens the right to bear arms, they
viewed any rebellion to their authority as a mortal threat to the
republic. Also, as Richard Brookhiser, the historian and senior editor at the National Review, states, it's the responsibility of
citizens to vote or debate, not engage in violence in order to change
legislation.

The real lesson here is that any illusion that owning one gun, or one hundred guns, would frighten or
alter the way government behaves is not only unrealistic, but something
George Washington would find unacceptable. The view propagated by the
NRA that gun ownership keeps the federal government "in check" is not
only historically inaccurate, but also contrary to the actions of our
Founding Fathers.

If you use marijuana in a state that has legalized pot for medicinal purposes, Sen. John Walsh wants to make sure you don’t lose your guns.

The Democratic senator from Montana, appointed earlier this year and facing a difficult race on Nov. 4, has filed an amendment to a spending package being considered on the Senate floor.

Walsh joins libertarian leaning Sen. Rand Paul in attaching a marijuana-related provision to the broad spending bill that includes funding for Commerce-Justice-Science, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development and Agriculture-FDA. But questions are arising over whether the Senate can complete work on the package because an agreement on amendments remains elusive.

Paul’s legislation would prevent the Department of Justice from blocking states attempting to implement their own laws related to medical marijuana.

“The federal government cannot deny Montanans who rely on medical marijuana their Second Amendment rights,” Walsh said in a statement. “This measure will ensure that patients can hunt, purchase ammunition and protect their homes without fear of prosecution.”